As a bi-racial, Ivy-League educated, thirty-something feminist who campaigned for Bill Clinton, the election has me squarely on the fence. I love Barack’s vision and know intimately the mosaic of ideas and experiences that helped shape it. I also feel a profound loyalty to Hillary who, after much sacrifice, has the chance to shatter the glass ceiling once and for all.

Gloria Steinem’s op-ed in The New York Times didn’t help Team Hillary [full disclosure, GS is my godmother]. It crystallized for me that Hillary, no matter how symbolically potent, runs the risk of being seen as a Second Wave candidate. She’s one of the first women to gain power and access, and may be one of the first with power and access to ignore the criticisms of women of color, progressive men, and many young women, all of whom have been sending clear messages to Second Wave feminist leadership for well over a decade.

Messages like:

Women are not only victims, but active participants in the shaping of their lives. It’s not Hillary’s gender that may keep her from winning this election, it’s her lack of preparation. If she had an inter-generational, multi-racial, digitally savvy, globally inclined machine behind her, crafting electrifying rhetoric like The Audacity of Hope and The Power of Now, she’d be swept into the White House by a landslide. Hillary wasn’t forced into the number two position in Iowa, she made decisions that put her there. New Hampshire is a case in point; she made different decisions and got different results.

Racism and classism are as definitive as sexism. Did Steinem insinuate that Barack’s gender, and not his talent, put him in the top spot? I thought black men were capable of performing at his level without an irrationally granted advantage. And the idea that black men always reach the Promised Land before white women? Forty per cent of black men don’t finish high school in America, and one in four are incarcerated. Hillary, and her feminist supporters, are not going to win this election by glossing over the realities of African-American men.

Men are not the enemy. Steinem claims that sexism is responsible for Hillary’s loss in Iowa, implicitly accusing men-at-large of devaluing women, while many of them may simply be more inspired by a candidate who happens to be a man. This type of divisive discourse that judges and alienates the many men who support the women in their families, communities, and the civic sphere every day is not only bad for women, it’s bad for Hillary’s campaign. Obama is running as a uniter. Hillary needs to avoid re-inscribing historical divisions in order to gain ground.

And, finally:

Young women are not stupid. The idea that young women are too naive to realize the pervasiveness of sexism is an old Second Wave trope used to dismiss and discredit an entire generation, many of whom now support Obama because he doesn’t insult them. As a result, there are a few women lining up behind the “feminist” placard, but many more running in the other direction.

Far from being ungrateful or unintelligent, these women know that confrontational political labels and a religious fixation on gender aren’t productive. They, rightly, choose to enjoy the rights they should have had all along, and find other, more complex approaches to righting the rampant injustice in the world. Hillary’s gender is not enough to win their vote, and she needs to show them that she knows it.

So while there’s still plenty of time for Hillary to win me over, Obama is looking pretty good at the moment. He’s listened to what many of my generational peers and I have been saying for the last decade, and his momentum proves it.

Rebecca Walker is a bestselling author and speaker who has contributed to the global conversation about identity, power, and the pressing need for human evolution for over fifteen years. Her books include To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism, Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self, What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future, and Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence.

I just want to say in regards to the presidential election this new year 2008…Can the USA afford to vote for an unexperienced candidate this time and only make a decision of election based on the candidate’s ability to speak beautiful words not supported by facts of experience and results from hard work and accomplishments?. Is the USA ready to perpetuate the Bush legacy with another republican president?…. or an unexperienced one?….Don’t you think we need someone experienced and patriotic with a passion for the interests of the people,who truly understands, believes and speaks to them with the people’s interests in mind?…someone that knows everything about the White House, so then…vote for Hillary Clinton!!!…who said that a woman is not capable of becoming a very good president?….This is real patriotism, adhering to the written documents of the Constitution of the USA, caring for the interests of the people, working for them, for the working middle class and the big majority.Someone that has demonstrated all these values, working for us all is the only woman ever so far running for president. Are we going to miss this great chance to have a smart woman fix all the problems we have today?..We cannot afford this to happen, this is the time and the opportunity. What better person than the former Lady of the USA?. Now is the time to see her as president of the USA!.Now you’ll hear lots of endless republican comments against the Clinton’s campaign, but only republican talks and attacks, and some other democratic candidates attacking her, based on misunderstandings and taking opportunity of this to put people against her, now that the Florida vote is critical and they would do anything they desperately can to win the people’s vote and allow her to fall. Hillary is a woman with character and ingenuity, and ready to lead this Nation. She has tenacity and
steadfastness, she can be a great leader to bring about change in the midst of chaos. Are we going to miss this great opportunity in front of us to make history?. She has been criticized maybe because she is a woman and a strong candidate. No one else of the candidates compares to her in her efforts to bring the economy to a surplus in her past experience while on the White House. Many candidates will say beautiful words and promises, not neccessarily expose their plans for change and fufill them entirely. Once in power there’s no guarantee that they would not turn things to their convenience and their friends, exactly as the present administration has shown. Hillary is the best road to the White House. We are not like waves changing minds every time we hear another candidate’s speech, we are firmly defined, no doubt in our minds that Hillary is the best choice, and we’ll support her till the end of the race, it’s what’s our country needs best right now.